The Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas, NM dates back to the 1880 and is said to be haunted by the spirit of the hotel’s former owner Byron T. Wells in his old office that is now room 310. Employees and guests have claimed to see a indention in the bed as if someone was laying down. Housekeeping staff has reported Byron speaking to them and the smell of cigar smoke.

It is also thought to be haunted by a woman who worked for the Plaza during the turn of the 1900’s. She worked for the hotel for 30 years. And it is said that even some of her children birth to her grandchildren in the hotel.

In addition, a spirit of a little girl, boy and old man have been seen in the boiler room and around the hotel.

In the 1880’s Las Vegas NM was the big town in the land. It was bigger and richer than Santa Fe or Albuquerque. There are nearly 1000 buildings here on the National Register of Historic Places. The heart of the Las Vegas is a beautiful Plaza Park. The Plaza Hotel still crowns that park. The hotel was considered the finest in New Mexico Territory. Until the Montezuma Resort was built a few miles west at the local hot springs. The Plaza hotel looks just like it did when it was built. It has a grand Victorian façade with three floors with 14 foot ceilings. With tall windows overlooking the Plaza. Originally there were 37 guest rooms, a saloon, dance hall and restaurant. Matching walnut staircases wind elegantly from the lobby to all floors.

From Doc Holiday to Tommy Lee Jones have stayed at the Plaza. The Plaza Hotel has starred in movies and TV from Tom Mix silent pictures to Longmire, Easy Rider and No Country for Old Men. The Plaza Hotel had an marvelous renovation in 1982.

While the Plaza Hotel was going up, Charles Ilfeld began building Ilfeld’s Department Store next door. Business was so good that in 1891 Ilfeld added on, tripling the size of his Italianate masterpiece. This was the biggest department store in the Southwest, renowned as the Grand Emporium. In 2006 the Ilfeld building was added to the Plaza Hotel with a $5 million renovation. The new addition provided 35 additional guest rooms with a grand Ballroom and meeting space.

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• Valley of Fire from Space, NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using Landsat data provided by the United States Geological Survey. Caption by Michon Scott, https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/39550/carrizozo-lava-flow, February 10, 2020.
• STS003-10-613 (22-30 March 1982), Space shuttle Columbia (STS-3), NASA, https://images.nasa.gov/details-s03-10-613 , February 10, 2020.
• Earth Observation taken by the Apollo 9 crew. View is of Carrizozo in New Mexico and includes lava flow and snow. NASA, , February 10, 2020.